2017-18 State of U.S. Ladies Skating

[beki]

Bradie’s PCS increase should give us an exact measure of US politicking power. Unless they’ve put all their eggs in Nathan’s and the Shibs’ baskets. But they can never resist an ice princess.

 

[frida80]

Bradie the US champion will get better marks than Bradie whom nobody has heard of, so I don't think her previous SB is indicative of her potential score. She executes her elements well and actually has a good amount of choreography and transitions, which judges might have looked passed before because of the safe music choices. You could be right and her ceiling could be 67, but if the USFSA is pushing her as the top US women, she should be getting better marks.

I estimated her new score would be between 68-70. The reason figured that range was because Kaori got a 71 with backloading. That’s in spite of her silver medal. I do think she will get a national champion boost, but it will be modest for the team event. They scored Gracie modestly too in the team event in Sochi. Then they boosted her scores in the individual round. They’ll give Bradie better scores in the individual.

 

[Putina]

Tennell has the goods to steal the show, IMO. I cannot think of any one element she is lacking compared to other top ladies. Her packaging is somewhat rough but I do not think that will matter much as long as she skates clean. She also skates to a Korean music (?) which might bring the audience to her side. She just has to deliver and wait for the chips to fall in her way. Fair or not, the judges were anxious to give points to Gold in the past as the top U.S. lady and I do think the same will be true for Tennell.

 

[beki]

Who knows, but I'm not a believer. She's not lacking elements, she's lacking it factor. There are a lot of skaters who can out-charisma her. Russians, Canadians and Japanese.

 

[Lightstar]

I have a question about Bradie: why is she known as incredible consistent?
Because as i heard she was clean in skate america and at nationals, that are only two competitions ? Did she compete somewhere else this season?
This isn't meant to hate on her i'm really just curious!

 

[lavenderblossom]

I have a question about Bradie: why is she known as incredible consistent?
Because as i heard she was clean in skate america and at nationals, that are only two competitions ? Did she compete somewhere else this season?
This isn't meant to hate on her i'm really just curious!

She also skated clean at Lombardia, was just off podium behind Carolina, Wakaba and Alina. I think she did another US competiton(s?) over the summer too which were clean or cleanish.
As for mega consistent, that hype came about after Skate America, and also because she's landing nearly all of her jumps in practices.

 

[frida80]

I have a question about Bradie: why is she known as incredible consistent?
Because as i heard she was clean in skate america and at nationals, that are only two competitions ? Did she compete somewhere else this season?
This isn't meant to hate on her i'm really just curious!

Before she got injured Bradie was super consistent. But after dealing with a back injury for two seasons she finally could skate pain free this summer. She won three summer competitions with high scores. (USFS may not list them, but these competition are great for getting their attention and building up a reputation with the federation.) then she won a minor senior B with near clean skates. She got 4th in Lombardia, behind Alina, Wakaba, and Carolina with two clean skates.

Bradie doesn’t fall and doesn’t miss her triple triple. Even with so much pressure during nationals, she still nailed her programs.

But that won’t be enough. You need the right packaging, coach, and reputation to challenge at the top. They’ll give her points for being US champ, but it won’t be enough to put her close to a medal. I think she does have a good shot at getting the American Pewter medal spot, we’ve gotten the past two Olympics. If she gets there, it should be enough to boost her to medal potential at worlds.

 

[Sjs5572]

Bradie the US champion will get better marks than Bradie whom nobody has heard of, so I don't think her previous SB is indicative of her potential score. She executes her elements well and actually has a good amount of choreography and transitions, which judges might have looked passed before because of the safe music choices. You could be right and her ceiling could be 67, but if the USFSA is pushing her as the top US women, she should be getting better marks.

Plus, her sp music is set to a popular Korean movie theme. The crowd could boost her PCS to 32-33 with a clean skate.

 

[concorde]

She also skated clean at Lombardia, was just off podium behind Carolina, Wakaba and Alina. I think she did another US competiton(s?) over the summer too which were clean or cleanish.
As for mega consistent, that hype came about after Skate America, and also because she's landing nearly all of her jumps in practices.

Philadelphia Summer Challenge (International portion). I believe she won it.

Karen withdrew after the short.

 

[Mrs. P]

Underestimating Bradie Tennell is a trend.

I enjoy it though because everyone is surprised and I'm like "I called this a while ago."

And actually the underhype for Bradie is helpful for her too. So let's keep it up.

 

[R.D.]

Well, after Nathan's subpar beginning, I am hoping Bradie can lift the team back up with a strong SP.

That would be nice, but as we clearly saw last night, it’s the Olympics after all...

 

[frida80]

Underestimating Bradie Tennell is a trend.

I enjoy it though because everyone is surprised and I'm like "I called this a while ago."

And actually the underhype for Bradie is helpful for her too. So let's keep it up.

I was like the first person to notice her, so don't get me started about people underestimating her. It's no longer about her performance. Now it's all about PCS politics. With her level or reputation, she should be at 70 or just under. But 74? Not yet. She has to get more medals first.

Wow PCS scoring is dumb. I can predict PCS scores based on non skating related factors. It's just not fair. Skaters should be judged based on what the put on the ice not on whether they medaled at the GPF.

 

[Mrs. P]

I was like the first person to notice her, so don't get me started about people underestimating her. It's no longer about her performance. Now it's all about PCS politics. With her level or reputation, she should be at 70 or just under. But 74? Not yet. She has to get more medals first.

Wow PCS scoring is dumb. I can predict PCS scores based on non skating related factors. It's just not fair. Skaters should be judged based on what the put on the ice not on whether they medaled at the GPF.

Eh, I think we're underestimating her there too. It takes one sparkling skate for PCS scores to go haywire.

 

[skatefan17]

She can score very very well. Let's see what happens.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

But that won’t be enough. You need the right packaging, coach, and reputation to challenge at the top. They’ll give her points for being US champ, but it won’t be enough to put her close to a medal. I think she does have a good shot at getting the American Pewter medal spot, we’ve gotten the past two Olympics. If she gets there, it should be enough to boost her to medal potential at worlds.

Clean skates tend to go farther at bigger events, where judging is more scrutinized. If Bradie hits two perfect programs, the judges aren't going to bury her behind well-known skaters if they have multiple major errors and/or pop several jumps. If the judging at Euros and GPF is any indication, it looks like the judges want TES to decide the outcome. Bradie has made the most of the limited opportunities she had this season, so it will be interesting to see tomorrow how she is marked against some of the top names.

Edit: Having said that, I don't think she will medal. I do think she can beat anyone other than Evgenia and Alina, because the others can be so hit-or-miss. While I don't think everyone will be perfect, I do expect at least one of Caro, Maria S, the two Canadians, or the two Japanese women to skate well enough to knock Bradie off the podium.

 

[johnsmith72]

I agree that Bradie should not be underestimated. I know I'm going to get a ton of flack for this opinion, but to me I really don't see much difference between Evgenia and Bradie and think that Bradie's almost the better skater. Both have plenty of transitions(although some are on rather shallow edges), multi-directional skating, and also average to decent interpretation. Both have pretty good spins, and I think Bradie has much better jumping technique. Maybe I'm missing something, but I honestly don't see that big or honestly any difference between them if we take reputation out of the equation.....

However, Alina's a far better skater in my eyes than Evgenia and do agree that Bradie should be far behind Alina in points if both go clean.

I'm bracing to be crucified haha

 

[Mrs. P]

Clean skates tend to go farther at bigger events, where judging is more scrutinized. If Bradie hits two perfect programs, the judges aren't going to bury her behind well-known skaters if they have multiple major errors and/or pop several jumps. If the judging at Euros and GPF is any indication, it looks like the judges want TES to decide the outcome. Bradie has made the most of the limited opportunities she had this season, so it will be interesting to see tomorrow how she is marked against some of the top names.

Edit: Having said that, I don't think she will medal. I do think she can beat anyone other than Evgenia and Alina, because the others can be so hit-or-miss. While I don't think everyone will be perfect, I do expect at least one of Caro, Maria S, the two Canadians, or the two Japanese women to skate well enough to knock Bradie off the podium.

Yeah I don't think she will medal in the individual event, but I think she could contribute to a better placement in the team event and force the USFSA to make some tough decisions with the FS.

 

[R.D.]

Not going to try to predict where a clean Tennell might end up but at the same time, not getting my hopes up either. Scoring at the Olympics has a way of being wacky anyhow. And given how Chen's skate went yesterday, not a done deal for Tennell.

 

[evasorange]

I shouldn’t be surprised that NBC/us fed would throw all of their media hype into Bradie(young white blonde princess-y is their favorite genre of women’s skating) but I am surprised at all of the commercials/hype pieces focusing all on her and basically ignoring Mirai and her huge accomplishment of learning the triple axel. No American women has landed one in the Olympics and now we finally have someone who is going to try! It’s a huge deal! And yet I haven’t seen one commercial or mention of it in the puff pieces anywhere. Hopefully they ramp it up as the individual event comes closer but I’m just super puzzled why I’ve barely seen her promoted or hyped anywhere during coverage

 

[Tavi...]

Per poster Ross Hy on FSU, Gracie is going to start coaching!

https://amp.azcentral.com/amp/325365002